Dish

The dish is complete; some breaks have been repaired with wire and glue. It is circular in shape with an undulating rim. In cross-section, the container has a flat wing with an almost continuous rim, a flared wall and a flat base resting on an annular foot. The dish is pierced by three pairs of drilled holes, which hold ferrous metal wires ; The decoration is molded and hand-painted in monochrome blue. The molded decoration is visible from the rim to the edge of the base: the rim is corrugated, the face is covered with rounded radiating flutes, while those on the back are hollow. The painted decoration is vegetal and animal; it can be seen on the inner wing, wall and base, as well as on the reverse, wing and center of the base. The decoration on the edge of the wing consists of a narrow braid drawn in blue and trimmed with alternating groups of oblique hatching in two directions. The decoration on the wing extends beyond the wall: it consists of the same repeated floral element: a thin leafy stem curved into a double volute. At either end of each volute is a different flower, traced in blue or traced and painted in blue. The background decoration is encircled by a braid identical to the one decorating the border. The background decoration rests on the braid. It consists of a cluster of sock-like plants traced and painted in blue, at the center of which emerges a large rock with a hole in it, symbolizing the Chinese philosophy of Taoism, traced and painted in blue. Behind the boulder rises a massive shrub, leafy and full of flowers, outlined and painted blue; it is adorned with two flowers. Above the shrub are two birds and three small insects. The reverse is decorated with three identical leafy, flowering plants arranged in a triangle. The center of the background features a double ring with a mugwort flower, one of the eight precious objects of Confucian philosophy.